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Tue 9 Jan, 2007 10:54 am
I have a Rainsoft water softener (Model Q24CT) thats about 11 years old. I moved into this house about 3 years ago and never turned it on (bypassed). Last weekend I decided to start it up. I put about 100 lbs of coarse salt in the tank, turned off the bypass, and fired it up. I set the computer per the instructions and then manually started a cycle. I watched for several hours and everything seemed to work fine. I set the regen time to 0100 AM. That was 3 days ago. Since then, the water is conditioned however the unit has not rgenerated. Running the *2 diagnositc, (gallons used since regeneration) it reads 0. It is counting the hours (*4).
Question, should this unit start regenerating every 24 hours or am I missing something. This house is designed for 5 people and we are only 2 so demand will not be as high) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
If it can't count gallons treated it will not backwash.
Presss start cycle and see what happens. If it works, you are good to go.
If it does nothing, you need a service call.
Also, since it was off line for so long chances are very good that internal
rubber parts have dry rotted and need to be replaced.
HTH ~
H2O-Man, Thanks for the quick reply. As far as the counter goes, thats what I thought. I dont think the seals are a problem since I watched the first manual cycle a few days ago. It seemed to complete all stages of the cycle without any problems, (put water in the brine tank, took it out, back flushed, drained, etc.) There were about 8 or 9 stages to the cycle.
Anyway, So you are saying I should run another manual cycle and see what happens? Providing it starts counting gallons, will it regen based on usage or by the regen time or both? Thanks for the help!!
EastBethel wrote:H2O-Man, Thanks for the quick reply. As far as the counter goes, thats what I thought. I dont think the seals are a problem since I watched the first manual cycle a few days ago. It seemed to complete all stages of the cycle without any problems, (put water in the brine tank, took it out, back flushed, drained, etc.) There were about 8 or 9 stages to the cycle.
Anyway, So you are saying I should run another manual cycle and see what happens? Providing it starts counting gallons, will it regen based on usage or by the regen time or both? Thanks for the help!!
There is a blue water wheel on the left/outlet side of the valve. It is located under a black plastic cap. Move the cap aside and you will see a clear plastic disk with a wire attached, the wheel is visible under this disc.
Shine a light on the wheel and run water from a tap. Does the wheel spin?
Being I am at work, I will have to look at it this afternoon when I get home. I will let you know later or in the morning. Thanks again for your help. This is the first water softener I have ever owned so obviously dont know much about them.
(I can see by your posts that you have been awesome responding to everyone. Thats pretty cool!! and greatly appreciated)
Good Morning H20man
Well I checked the little flowmeter under the cap and sure enough it is not turning. tapping with a wrench didnt help. There is a snap ring holding it in. If I turn off the house water and depressurize by opening a tap, I am guessing I can remove it to try to clean it up. Question, if I hit the bypass valve, will that stop the flow from the water pipes back into the system or will I have to drain all the water pipes in the house down to that level? Trying to avert a gusher if I remove that snap ring and flow sensor. Let me know...thanks again for everything
Re: Good Morning H20man
EastBethel wrote:Well I checked the little flowmeter under the cap and sure enough it is not turning. tapping with a wrench didnt help. There is a snap ring holding it in. If I turn off the house water and depressurize by opening a tap, I am guessing I can remove it to try to clean it up. Question, if I hit the bypass valve, will that stop the flow from the water pipes back into the system or will I have to drain all the water pipes in the house down to that level? Trying to avert a gusher if I remove that snap ring and flow sensor. Let me know...thanks again for everything
Put the softener on bypass, then press start cycle ... come back in 4 hours and remove the snap ring.
Look for debris, rough edges on the wheel or in the housing and test spin it with your finger to make sure it spins before you put it back together.
Good luck.
Thanks
H20man, thanks for all the help. everything worked just as you said. no gushers. The flowmeter is counting as it should now. One last question, we dont use a lot of water, maybe 100 gallons a day. Am I correct in assuming that it wont regenerate until it gets to about 30% of the capacity. Also, for the total capacity, I cant find anywhere on the unit where thats stamped. There is a 24 written on the plate on top of the cover for 24000 grains. Does that sound right? Thanks again
Re: Thanks
EastBethel wrote:H20man, thanks for all the help. everything worked just as you said. no gushers. The flowmeter is counting as it should now. One last question, we dont use a lot of water, maybe 100 gallons a day. Am I correct in assuming that it wont regenerate until it gets to about 30% of the capacity. Also, for the total capacity, I cant find anywhere on the unit where thats stamped. There is a 24 written on the plate on top of the cover for 24000 grains. Does that sound right? Thanks again
I'm glad it worked out for you
24K sounds normal. I would normally set the hardness on the computer at 20.
This ensures that you never run out of soft water.
@H2O MAN,
Hello H2O man,
Here it is 7 years later and I am still running the same unit (or was). It appears to be stuck and will not regenerate. The motor just runs. I am thinking stuck piston. I was going to take apart but Im not sure where to start. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
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